Directors

Lloyd W. Kendall, Jr.

Chairman of the Board and Founding Director

Lloyd W. Kendall, Jr., is a lawyer, practicing in the Bay Area since 1978 and specializing in real estate and tax law. His specialty is tax free exchanges and related areas of the law. He received much of his tax law education through his employment with the U.S. Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Kendall formed and owned, Lawyers Asset Management, Inc. acting as "Qualified Intermediary" for tax free exchanges under Section 1031(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, until 2006 when his company merged with Commercial Capital Bank. He also served as tax counsel for several title companies and was the President of Equity Investment Exchange, Inc., a competitor owned by Mercury Title Companies of Colorado. He has lectured extensively throughout the U.S. providing continuing education for Lawyers and Realtors.

William J. Black, Jr.

Executive Vice Chairman

William J. Black, Jr. is the Executive Vice Chairman of the Company and the Bank. Mr. Black brings over 25 years of experience driving strategy, capital allocation, and transformational change across public and private financial institutions. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at PacWest Bancorp and Banc of California, where he advised the Board on M&A, capital markets, and strategic alternatives while reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Black played a central role in stabilizing PacWest during the 2023 banking disruption — securing $1.4 billion in emergency liquidity in six days and directing the sale of $7 billion in assets. He also led multiple strategic acquisitions across his tenure, including scaling Civic Financial from $100 million to over $300 million in monthly originations, integrating a $4+ billion deposit platform, and serving as a principal in PacWest's sale to Banc of California. Prior to his operating career, Mr. Black was Founder and Managing Partner of Consector Capital, a long/short financial services investment firm that generated significant returns, materially outperforming the S&P 500 and S&P Financial Index over its life. He holds a B.A. in Economics from The Johns Hopkins University.

Christopher F. Baron

President
Chief Executive Officer

Christopher F. Baron is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Bank. Mr. Baron brings over 25 years of experience as a senior commercial banking executive with deep experience leading large-scale banking organizations and building high-performing teams across major U.S. markets. Most recently, he served as President of Commercial and Community Banking at Banc of California, where he oversaw the branch network and commercial and middle market banking platforms across southern and central California and Colorado, representing a multi-billion-dollar deposit and loan franchise and a large team of banking professionals.

Prior to that, Mr. Baron joined Pacific Western Bank in 2017, where he launched the tax-exempt lending platform and materially expanded that bank’s affordable housing finance capabilities, and subsequently served as President of the Los Angeles Region. Earlier in his career, he led public finance and institutional banking businesses at MUFG Union Bank and U.S. Bank, managing complex client relationships and regulated balance sheets. He holds a B.A. in Economics from UCLA.

George J. Guarini

Founding Director 

George J. Guarini's vision of opening a bank that focuses on "best in class" offerings to match today's dynamic business climate became a reality on July 20, 2004. Mr. Guarini brings more than 35 years of experience in the banking industry, holding key executive and senior level management positions with national and regional financial institutions, including the turnaround of two financial institutions. Since 2017, Mr. Guarini has served on the Board of Governors for the USS Potomac, the "Floating White House", which was originally commissioned the USCG Cutter Electra in 1934. Mr. Guarini earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Rutgers University.

Robert G. Laverne

Founding Director

Robert G. Laverne, is an anesthesiologist at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California. Dr. Laverne is also the founder and Managing Member of New Horizons Properties, LLC, a property development company. Dr. Laverne also served as the Chief Financial Officer of Medical Anesthesia Consultants (1988 - 1994) and at present, is a director of Medical Anesthesia Consultants. Dr. Laverne was the Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at John Muir Medical Center from 1989-1991, and was Chairman of the John Muir Medical Center Physician Credentials Committee from 1994-2001. Dr. Laverne received his M.D. degree from the University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, and his A.B. degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Bhupen B. Amin

Director

Mr. Amin is general counsel and Chief Operating Officer of Lotus Hotels and Investments in Walnut Creek, California. In his capacity, Mr. Amin is responsible for the development, management, financing and operations of several hotel properties, shopping centers and self-storage facilities. Prior to joining Lotus, Mr. Amin was an attorney at the Law Offices of Bowles & Verna in Walnut Creek, California. Mr. Amin serves on the nominating committee and Board of Directors of the California Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA), and is an active member of the governmental affairs committee of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) in Washington D.C. Mr. Amin became the first Indian-American to be elected Chairman of CH&LA, the largest state hotel association in the nation. Mr. Amin also acts as a Pro Tem Judge in the Alameda County Superior Courts and serves on the board of directors of Brookside Health Center, a non-profit FQHC serving underprivileged families in the East Bay Area. Mr. Amin earned his law degree from the University of California, Davis and secured his undergraduate degree from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Harpreet S. Chaudhary

Director

Mr. Chaudhary is a certified public accountant (CPA) and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) serving as the president of Area Financial Services, Inc., which provides accounting, wealth planning, tax planning and preparation services for high net worth individuals and small business owners in the Bay Area for over 25 years. Mr. Chaudhary is a California licensed realtor, and owns and manages various commercial retail properties. Mr. Chaudhary is actively involved with various bay area charities like Pratham, the Fremont Sikh Gurdwara, Genco and the Punjab Cultural society. Mr. Chaudhary is a graduate of the University of Delhi, India.

Dennis Guida

Director

Dennis Guida is the Managing Director for HBP Analytics, LLC and the former Chairman of Pacific Enterprise Bank (Irvine, CA) and Southport Financial Corporation (Kenosha, WI). With 40 years of banking industry experience, he's held the positions of Chairman, Director, CEO, CFO, and bank consultant. Dennis specializes in Asset Liability Management and has provided ALM third party reviews/model validations and advisory services to more than 300 banking clients. These institutions range in size from de novo banks to companies with over $18 billion in assets. Dennis holds a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Redlands (Redlands, CA), an M.B.A. from National University (San Diego, CA), and is a graduate of The School of Bank Administration (Madison, WI).

Syvia L. Magid

Director

Syvia L. Magid is a Partner at Fox Rothschild LLP and became a Director with United Business Bank and BayCom Corp effective December 1, 2019. Prior to that, she was an attorney at MBV Law LLP, which was merged into Fox Rothschild LLP in 2014. She advises and assists clients with entity decisions and entity formation; counsels businesses regarding general corporate matters and governance; counsels clients with regard to winding up and dissolving business; and advises and assists clients in mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations. Prior to that, she was a Partner at Stein Rudser Cohen & Magid LLP. Ms. Magid earned a Juris Doctor degree from Hastings Colleges of the Law at the University of California and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Whittier College.